TEXARKANA -- A federal judge has overturned the death sentence levied in 1994 by a Miller County jury in the fatal stabbing of an E-Z Mart clerk.

The conviction of Andrew Sasser, 53, in the July 12, 1993, slaying of Jo Ann Kennedy stands, but the case has been sent back to Miller County for a resentencing hearing. U.S. District Judge P.K. Holmes issued an opinion last week that says Sasser's trial lawyer and one of his first appellate lawyers didn't do enough to inform the jury of Sasser's intellectual limitations, mental-health problems and social history.

Kennedy's half nude body was found shortly after 1 a.m. just outside the door of the store where she was working in Garland City. Her pants and underwear were discovered in the men's restroom, but Kennedy, 55, wasn't raped. The store was locked after midnight, but patrons could make purchases through a window.